(NCS contributor Austin Weber has delivered unto us a three-part introduction to new and forthcoming releases by 7 bands. In this first part, he focuses on The Conjuration and Order of Leviathan.)

The end of the year is usually a slower time for new music releases, a time when much alcohol is consumed and countless amounts of money are wasted on bullshit soon forgotten. But fortunately I’ve got plenty of releases and new songs to catch up on and spread the word about.

THE CONJURATION

I wrote about them a few months back regarding their 2012 release The Human Condition, an unhinged album with a schizophrenic avante-garde meets progressive take on death metal unlike anything I’ve heard before. Recently a new album titled Surreal was announced, with a release date coming up soon, sometime in December. They just premiered “Capricorn” through their Facebook. In addition to that track, sole member and composer Corey Jason sent me another track to check out called “Kaleidoscopic Thoughts”.

“Capricorn” starts in a keyboard meets groovy death metal interlocking mass before transitioning to thrashy blasting death metal that is soon layered in the same keyboard flourish that starts the song. As per how The Conjuration usually structure their music, the song suddenly splinters off to somewhere new, which is a tantalizing heavy groove that lasts for only a moment.

The way The Conjuration structure their music gives them an intriguing identity due to their ever-shifting and eclecticly insane music paired to manic, powerful growls, caustic screams, and awesome oddball spoken-word/sung sections. Later on, the song takes a dreamy instrumental pause that is quite unexpected and beautiful, while being reminiscent of something Between The Buried And Me might do. Following that is more zany death metal and the same earlier keyboard flourish/opening riff, returning again to bring the song full circle.

“Kaleidoscopic Thought” starts off relatively straightforward, at least compared to how The Conjuration’s music tends to work. But it quickly unfolds in several different directions in their typical manner, darting off into experimental passages that jarringly find their way back to very disturbing death metal territory. The song settles into a middle, mellow, maddening center that’s partially layered with a crazy sounding exclamation of La la la that I find both horrifying and highly amusing.

After that extended freak-out segment the music builds back up to more manic death metal delivered in deranged fashion. This is a lumbering, heavy-ass song supported by great riffs, pissed-off vocals, some shred-filled moments, and some funk bass playing. It’s the sort of song that demands that you headbang frequently while scratching your head in confusion at the same time.

If you like what you hear be sure to check back with NoCleanSinging, as we will be exclusively premiering a new The Conjuration track shortly.

Order Of Leviathan are a local black metal band from my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. This has been a good year for black metal in my town, as locals Anagnorisis dropped Beyond All Light just a few months ago. Now Order Of Leviathan have released some excellent black metal as well. They are only about a year old, and their debut EP is The Infernal Path To Total Darkness.

Overall, their take on black metal is often quite technical, layered with thrash undertones, dark melodies, esoteric ambient/nature passages, and sprinkled death metal influences. They have a potent nihilist energy that is quite intense and comes alive in their harsh, blast-filled approach, teeming with memorable riffs and pained screams. I’m proud to hear how good these guys sound –not like a local band re-hashing lo-fi black metal, but instead like a focused group actively crafting their own take on the genre.

The production, courtesy of Zak Denham (Anagnorisis), is superb and crystal clear, yet cold sounding. In addition to producing the EP, he also contributed to the writing of some of the guitar, bass, and drum parts. This is some killer black metal that’s already getting stuck in my head.

Come on, guys, if you’re going to write your EP title in runes, at least be familiar enough with the alphabet to know that the “th-” sound was created by the rune thurisaz (þ) instead of two letters like in English.